AN: Here we go, back by popular demand. Hope that this meets your expectations. I tweaked the storyline a bit, so bear with me. The opening starts after Arachne is introduced.
Declaimer: I do not own Soul Eater. This story contains spoilers from volume 8 and onward.
Over the years, a simple rhyme had been chalked up to a fairy tale that would trick small children to not talk to strangers. How could there be an Underworld? Shinigami were revered as noble protectors of the natural world order and witches were evil enchantresses that caused merciless destruction. Even under the threat of madness the ancient covenant still held true 914 years later, whether people chose to believe it or not.
Deep within the libraries of Shibusen a young man leaned against the counter engrossed in his own thoughts. Recently the balance of the world had tipped and the first Kishen was released into the world, but that was not what currently troubled the teen.
"I'm sorry sir, it appears that the book was borrowed two months ago and has not been returned as of yet…" The boy turned to face the librarian who addressed him, letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Do you know who borrowed it? I'll get it from that person directly." He asked, there was a pause as the librarian fetched the release form.
"Due to an error on our part, we don't know." The boy looked down at the signature 'M'. Running a hand through his stripped hair, his gold eyes searched for the missing letters. Suddenly he stopped.
"I see, thank you for your time." He muttered and exited the building. The boy was Death the Kid, son of the governing shinigami. He became suspicious of his father's past when he found a magical tool with his father's signature on it. The inventor of said tool was hardly known in Death City, Nevada. Not only that, but the only book on him was checked out. The young shinigami sighed. Since the inventor was a wizard he doubted any of the Death Scythes would divulge any information to him without arising suspicion. If he had a connection to the magical world, he probably would have better luck. Unfortunately he didn't know anybody who had contact with witches.
A dark figure slunk down the hall behind him, trying to conform to the shadows. The shinigami turned abruptly.
"Who's there!" He snapped, irritable from the whole ordeal.
"Ahh!" A high pitched voice squeaked. "Shinigami-kun! I-I'm sorry. I was just heading to my room." It was the demon sword. This was the second time he had encountered the pink-haired miester.
Flash -o- back
Kid had just found his way to the deck of the ship Nidhogg. He had been left defenseless at the hands of the Flying Dutchman when he was separated from Liz. Finally he had caught up with his other partner.
"Liz! You moron! Because of you, I couldn't use Patty!" He shouted.
"Kid, watch out!" Liz warned. Kid turned to see the Flying Dutchman at the helm, his shot gun aimed right for Kid. Before the spirit could pull the trigger, a black sword hurtled to the ship, slicing the head and shot gun in half. Kid stood transfixed as a cloaked figure emerged from the fog and grasped the handle of the blade.
Immediately he knew who it was, the demon sword that attacked Soul. He was taken aback by the 'fearsome' sword's appearance. Uneven pink hair, modest black clothing; this was hardly the black demon Soul had described. The miester touched their forehead to the hilt and muttered something. The sword let out a piercing scream.
All at once the souls from the bough of the ship rose and were sucked into the mouth of the blade. The miester's eyes fogged over, briefly lost in another world. Then just as suddenly as the souls had vanished, the miester crumpled over in pain. Black wings shot out of the miester's back. She looked at him, eyes still glistening with pain, and took a step back. She had finally noticed he was aboard the vessel.
"Do you know where hell is?" She asked looking to the ground. "It's in your mind." She raised her sword with trembling hands. "I'm so scared... If I stay this way everyone will leave me behind. So I get stronger. If you get in my way," She said finally locking eyes with the shinigami. "I'll kill you." Those eyes held years of torment behind them. Kid had to act fast. In an instant he had leapt from his spot on the deck and launched a counter attack.
"Getting power," Kid growled, attacking the swords man, "is that the way you rid yourself of fear! You fool! If you really want to wipe away your fear, then make your soul stronger!" He shot a finishing blow, confident he had bested the demon sword. As the smoke cleared, his opponent dived in and attack from below. The girl stayed in the air as Kid recovered from the blow. When he looked up he was surprised to see the girl was on the verge of tear.
"Someone like you would never understand. Even bunnies don't understand. If bunnies don't understand… there's no way a perfect shinigami like you could understand. Leave me alone!"
It was the first time someone called him perfect.
Flash -o- back -o- end
The demon sword miester joined DWMA shortly after the Kishen's release. Kid had to admit, this was the first time he had talked to the demon miester since their meeting on Nidhogg. The pinkette had worked with Medusa, the snake witch, and was the reason Asura escaped. Still Maka had insisted that it was not by choice that the sword miester had worked with the witch.
"I'm sorry for getting in your way." The shy girl mumbled. Kid briefly nodded to the witch's daughter.
"No, I'm sorry for snapping at you." Kid began to walk down the hall, and then paused. Crona was a witch's daughter! Of all the people in school, she would know the most about Eibon. He turned; ready to call out her name, but the young miester had already vanished down the hall. I was just as well, if he asked her directly she might've been scared off by his bluntness. There had to be a way to get her help without scaring her off. But how?
-8-0-8-
Panting, Crona slammed the beat up metal door of her room shut. Slowly she sunk to the floor, still shaking with adrenaline. As she caught her breath Ragnarok emerged.
"What the hell was that about Crona?" Ragnarok shouted, bopping his miester's head.
"I…didn't…know…how…to deal…with him." Crona panted.
"Oh, I see." Ragnarok smiled wickedly. "You know, if you run away from everyone you can't deal with you'll give yourself a heart attack." He said casually.
"WHAT!" Crona squeaked. "My heart can attack me! Oh no!" Crona began to rant.
"Crona." Ragnarok tried.
"What can I do if I can't trust my own heart? Will I be able to sleep tonight?"
"Crona!"
"What if it pops out of my chest and walks on little feet when I'm not looking! What if it can use my own blood against me!" She gasped.
"CRONA!"
"I don't know how to deal with this!"
"DAMN IT CRONA!" Ragnarok pulled on the pinkette's hair "That's not what a heart attack is! Your heart's not gonna' literally pop of your chest dummy!"
"It won't?" Crona sniffled. She was rewarded with a swift smack to the head.
"No it won't, but if you panic too much I won't be able to come out. Then where would you be?" Ragnarok scolded, folding his pudgy arms.
"…right here." Crona answered, confused.
"ARGH!" Ragnarok shouted. "Don't you know a rhetorical question when you hear it!?"
"P-please don't hit me!" Crona squeaked under the light blows from her partner. She fell on her stomach as she tried to deflect Ragnarok. He frowned when Crona stopped fighting.
"What's with you? Usually you start whining about now." He asked. He stopped hitting her in order to rest on top of her messy pink hair.
"The bed is bolted to the floor." She commented. Her fingers gentle traced the bolt and surrounding stone.
"Really captain obvious, I had no idea." Ragnarok scoffed.
"But look at it," She said pointing to the stressed bolt, "The stone around it's all scratched up." The blob peered over her shoulder.
"Hey you're right. Come to think of it everything in here's bolted down." Crona rose from the floor and inspected the dresser and tables. Each furnishing was bolted to the stone floor at the legs. The surrounding stone had been carved unevenly, creating a little room to jostle the furnishings.
"They all have the same scratches." She looked up to her partner. "What does it mean?"
"What am I, an encyclopedia?" Ragnarok demanded. "I don't know! Maybe somebody else stayed in this room! You seriously worry way too much."
-8-0-8-
The next day Kid sat in class and tried to think of a way to get Crona to help him. He looked down at Crona, a plan forming, but how could he get Crona alone? He saw the pinkette ask Maka something, but her friend shook her head and shrugged. Crona hung her head, then suddenly scribbled something furiously on a folded piece of paper.
The bell rang and as Kid packed his bag Crona snuck up behind him and left the folded paper on his desk. When Kid looked up she was gone. He carefully unfolded the note and read what was inside. It read as follows.
'Dear Shinigami-kun,
I have to ask you something, meet me in the library during lunch.'
This was his chance to talk to Crona. He tucked the note away into his pocket and slipped out of the class while Stein cleaned up. He hurried into the library to meet Crona.
"Crona?" He called. There was a soft squeak from behind one of the book cases. "…Crona?" He asked with a softer tone.
"I didn't think you would come." She said. Crona peaked from behind a book case.
"Why wouldn't I come?" Kid asked, kneeling down to her level.
"You…you don't like me, you think I'm stupid."
"When have I ever-" He stopped, remembering their battle on the Nidhogg. "Oh. I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you were stupid, I just…" Kid struggled to think of something that wouldn't scare the girl away. "Uh…Well… I know now that you- No, that won't do." This was not going how he planned it! He held his head searching for the right words to pacify Crona. She slowly pulled herself from the books.
"Shinigami-kun?" she asked. "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm worthless scum who can't even comfort an innocent girl!" Crona warred with herself whether or not to place a comforting hand on the boy. Kid slowly lowered his hands and looked up at Crona, a little ashamed of himself. "The reason I came was to ask you something."
"W-what?" Crona took a step back, "You wanted to ask me something?" Kid nodded, then glanced over his shoulder at a few of the students who were milling about the library.
"Not here though, there are too many people." Kid walked to the door and gestured for Crona to follow. As she fidgeted, she reluctantly followed the boy out into the hall. Kid checked to see if anyone was coming then sighed. He really shouldn't confuse the trial student by giving her reasons to doubt his father, but he needed the help. Besides, if his father was innocent it could shatter any doubts Crona herself might have. "As you know," Kid whispered, "my father has been collecting magical tools." Crona nodded. "I recently found that my father knew who created them, but I don't know why."
"Didn't he tell you why when he told you this?" Crona asked, Kid sighed.
"That's just it, he didn't tell me. I wasn't supposed to find out about it." Kid hung his head. "I have no idea what the magic tools were made for or why. I can't ask any of the Death Scythes, that's why I need you."
"Me!" Crona gasped, "But I don't know anything about Shibusen. You know more about Shinigami-sama then me."
"I know that, but I need your help investigating. You are the only person I can trust." Crona backed into the wall, shaking her head.
"I can't. I don't know how to deal with investigations!" She flinched.
"Alright." Crona opened her eyes confused.
"…what, that's it?"
"It's your decision to make. I could always use your help though." Putting his hands in his pockets, Kid began to walk away.
"What do you think you're doing idiot." Ragnarok hissed. "That kid is Shinigami's son."
"I know that." Crona squeaked. Ragnarok stared at her expectantly, and then hit her when she said nothing.
"So, go ask him for a different room! He just asked you for your help, you could use that as leverage!"
"B-but I don't want to black mail Shinigami-kun!"
"Go get his help of I'll…" Ragnarok reached for the hem of Crona's skirt.
"No! Don't! I'll ask." She dashed down the hall to catch up with the shinigami. "Shinigami-kun!" Kid turned around. "If I help you investigate will you help me?" Kid thought a moment.
"Deal."